22 ducks die around apartment ponds

Wildlife experts found 22 dead ducks in and around the ponds of a Dublin apartment complex yesterday and are treating 10 other birds that appear to have ingested some sort of toxin.

Wildlife experts found 22 dead ducks in and around the ponds of a Dublin apartment complex yesterday and are treating 10 other birds that appear to have ingested some sort of toxin.

Dr. Donald Burton, a veterinarian who founded the Ohio Wildlife Center, said that dead waterfowl are not uncommon in ornamental ponds.

Botulism sometimes kills them when hot, dry weather drives down a pond's oxygen content along with its water level. But that doesn't apply to recent weather in central Ohio.

"There is a potential for poisoning," Burton said. "Some people enjoy feeding ducks, while their neighbors may not like the birds being around."

He said the ducks could have been poisoned with pesticides or herbicides, specifically diazinon, which is banned on golf courses for its lethal effects on birds. The 10 surviving waterfowl at the center are being treated for organophosphate poisoning -- a broad category of pesticides that includes diazinon. They are being given activated charcoal to bind the toxins.

The ducks were found at Britton Woods, an apartment complex northwest of Tuttle Crossing Boulevard and Emerald Parkway near the Mall at Tuttle Crossing.

A spokesman for the complex said landscaping is done by an outside company that uses chemicals designed to not harm animals. The company's most recent visit was June 2.

Brad Kiger, a state wildlife officer, estimated that half the ducks at the complex had died. Dead ducks will be sent to Wisconsin for testing, and the results will be returned in a couple of weeks, he said.

"Some more will die in the next couple days," he said.

Mary Kattenhorn, who lives at the complex, pointed to one duck that was falling over while trying to walk yesterday.

Many of the birds congregate near her patio because she feeds them on occasion, she said.

"That is just horrible," she said. "I just hope it wasn't intentional."

Michael Racey a spokesman for the Dublin police, said officers are treating the deaths as accidental.

It would be very difficult to prove that someone intentionally poisoned the birds, he said.